It’s Super Bowl weekend, which usually means a very quite scene at the North American box office. Thanks to the arrival of three non-starters –Hail, Caesar!, The Choice and Pride & Prejudice and Zombies-, that is exactly how it was business-wise: silent. With the big game on Sunday and a plethora of crap clogging the multiplexes, business was down 37% from last weekend and six percent from Super Bowl weekend one year ago.
With no real competition to speak of, Kung Fu Panda 3 had no trouble remaining in the number one spot. The Fox/Dreamworks release eased 49% from its opening weekend figures, earning an estimated $21 million from 3,987 theaters in its sophomore session. After ten days, Po’s latest adventure has pocketed $69 million so far in the States and could work its way to $120-125 million. Kung Fu Panda 3 has already passed that figure overseas thanks to China’s $100 million haul. Panda’s early foreign total currently stands at $129 million.
Universal’s Hollywood satire Hail, Caesar! fared the best of the new arrivals, which really isn’t saying too much. The latest comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen opened in 2,232 locations where it earned an underwhelming $11.4 million. Reviews were overall positive for the ensemble comedy, which stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johannson and Ralph Fiennes. The press gave the ensemble comedy a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, ticket buyers polled on CinemaScore sung a different tune. They gave the film a dreaded “C-“ rating, which doesn’t bode well for the film’s long-term prospects.
In third and fourth place were two holiday leftovers, The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Leonardo DiCaprio awards favorite added another $7.1 million from 3,018 theaters. Off 44%, The Revenant has bagged $150 million after seven weeks. The $200 million mark is still a possibility depending on how well the film does at the Oscars at the end of the month. Foreign totals for the wilderness drama are currently at $176 million.
Disney’s The Force Awakens added another $6.9 million from 2,262 screens in its eighth weekend, a decrease of 38% over last weekend. It’s domestic total now stands at $906 million and yes, that is another new record set by the J.J. Abrams blockbuster.
With a final total looking to be between $920-925 million, The Force Awakens will land in eleventh place on the all-time biggest domestic earners and that is adjusted for inflation. Also of note was the film’s overall global haul. On Saturday, The Force Awakens has become only the third film in history to cross the $2 billion mark, just behind the James Cameron duo of Avatar and Titanic.
The latest weepie from Nicholas Sparks, The Choice, was chosen by few this weekend as the Lionsgate feature earned a dismal $6.1 million from 2,631 theaters, good only for a fifth place finish. Critics tore it a new one, bestowing the film with an eight percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes while those polled on CinemaScore gave it a “B+”.
The news was even worse for the horror mashup Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, which flatlined with an awful $5.2 million from 2,931 theaters. A cross between Jane Austin and The Walking Dead, few if any showed much interest. Critics gave the film a largely negative 40% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, while ticket buyers gave it a “B-“ CinemaScore grade. Judging by the grosses, it appears that if people really wanted to be scared silly at the movies this week, they opted for the new Nicholas Sparks dung heap.
The remainder of the top ten was as follows:
- The Finest Hours (Disney) $4.7 million (-54%); $18.3 million
- Ride Along 2 (Universal) $4.5 million (-46%); $77.2 million
- The Boy (STX) $4 million (-46%); $27 million
- Dirty Grandpa (Lionsgate) $4 million (-47%); $29.3 million
The box office should see a nice jolt next weekend when Zoolander 2, Deadpool and How to Be Single arrive Thursday night. Deadpool should have no problem scoring the number one spot and do so by a wide margin.
